What are the chances that the sore in my mouth is H2?
I really doubt that it is, but it could be. The only way to know for certain is a swab test, and you said that yours was negative so it seems unlikely that this is HSV 2.
How could I suddenly get an OB that has the hallmarks of a new infection without any contact?
You aren’t having an outbreak with the hallmarks of a new infection. If this in your mouth is HSV 2, is it not behaving like a new infection and you don’t have a new infection because you haven’t had a recent contact and your IgG indicates that you have been infected for quite a while, as both doctors mentioned. The IgM is useless and should be ignored..
I had been scuba-diving in November and December and wonder if the scuba gear I rented could have exposed me to something. ??
I seriously doubt that.
Could it be some other virus and not Herpes?
Are you asking if the sore in your mouth is caused by some other virus and not herpes? That’s certainly possible or it could just be a canker sore and we don’t know what causes them.
Does it sound like it’s most likely Herpes?
You mean the sores in your mouth? Not really, to me.
It could be HSV 1 yes, but then the swab test would have been positive and it wasn’t.
Our clinic can order a western blot for you at a Quest lab in your area. I don’t think that Maryland is one of the states that doesn’t allow shipping out of state but our office would know for certain.
The western blot looks for all the proteins associated with the herpes antibody where the ELISA looks only for one protein.
If you have HSV 2 it is shed infrequently from the mouth, far less frequently than HSV 1. We don’t have statistics on how frequently HSV 1 is transmitted through kissing or oral sex.
Please feel free to ask more questions.
Terri